What need of whimsy?
by Kuro Guardian
Summary: Don't be foolish - there has never has been such a thing, there will never be such a thing.
_Steven, what is"_ home school" _?_

 _Um...Connie says it's like real school, but your mo-guardians teach you instead of well teachers._

 _What is a "_ teacher _"?_

 _Don't they have that on Homeworld? People who tell how things work and how to do your job and stuff?_

 _Oh, Steven._

There have never been teachers on Homeworld. There have never been teachers anywhere in the Empire. There is no need for teachers. The glory of the Kindergarten Program is that it produces gems who know their purpose and are built for the achievement of that purpose. They do not need to learn. They do not need to change. They are perfect - this is how it has always been.

And those who are not perfect are Re-purposed until they are.

 _B-but what about... I mean how can you be sure? It can't always have been like that - maybe things have changed?_

 _Heh, clod. You sound like a colony growth - they're always standing around gossiping about. Well it's not important._

 _Aw, I wanna know._

 _Well there are stories - legends and rumors about certain places that show a different history._

 _Really?_

 _Probably not - I've never seen any and I have level 3 clearance... or had. But they say -_

-there are old carvings hidden under the streets. There are half-faded murals. There are broken mosaics and in them tall, thin figures speak to crowds as their gems beam out figures and numbers and words. These figures have no name - because their function is redundant and redundancy is worthless. Disposable.

There is no need for a term like Mother.

There is no point to a term like Creator.

There have never been teachers, there is no need for improvement...all Gems are perfect.

Sometimes people see these things and ask, but - "Don't be foolish. Pearls are not meant for such things. They are a decoration, a bit of finery for those with more resources than sens-" And the Diamonds have Pearls so that's fine of course. Resources are afforded according to worth and if a gem has enough to spend on a pearl... then it is only right. After all, the Diamonds have Pearls and they are pinnacle of Gem society.

 _Pinnacle_ _?_

 _Tch, this is why Kindergartens are important and why pearls are meant for decorative purposes._

 _Hey! That's not fair - besides I taught you lots of stuff._

 _Yeah, and I'm half-way to defective if I'm not already!_

 _..._

 _..._

 _That's not true - you're just learning, growing, becoming who you're meant to be._

 _That's not how it works... but sometimes things don't fit in a gem's parameters. That's what the archives are for._

...and the clever ones will access it from forgotten terminals and back hallways in buildings that never were. Buildings colored shades of pink. buildings colored shades of cream. buildings the wind moves through like the memory of a song, like the moment when a dream has ended. Broken, abandoned places where the air hangs heavy with the dust of abbreviated lives. Places where redundancy means circuits can click over after millennia of neglect and screens play back images that don't make sense.

Gems that weave in and about each other, words spoken with strange cadence like water flowing down a brook. There is a blue world wrapped 'round with clouds and a sapphire and a ruby and something that is neither, and a pearl with swords, and a quartz that weeps. And further back there are moments where gems weep upon their knees, there are worlds littered with bones where nothing will ever again grow, and tall ones stand before smaller versions of themselves - their screams are never brief.

And further back is more data about the tall, thin ones that seem so like pearls but can't be because **pearls are nothing but toys not people.**

And sometimes a new one - a kindergarten clod - or some backwater outgrowth will say, "Where are these images? Can I see them? What happened to make them not true?" and everyone laughs at them because of course it's just a story. There are no abandoned buildings as they are inefficient. unnecessary chatter and motion are inefficient. and there has never been a pink diamond. and there has never been/we mourn the loss of/we **do not** speak of white diamond. Only defects say otherwise and besides -

 _Any technian worth their matter knows better than to access nodes they aren't cleared for._

 _Oh, why?_

 _Because accessing an archive will leave a log. And if that gets back to the wrong person..._

 _So you're not allowed to learn?_

 _Eh, anyone can access the Stream, and anyone can access data logs both public and private and restricted..._

but you need to right clearance - and being clever is no excuse for treading where you aren't required, where you aren't meant to go. Clever won't stop you  
getting Decommissioned, won't stop you being Harvested - might actually cost it. No gem is ever any more clever than it needs to be if it knows what's good for it. This is something everyone knows... and besides:

 **Only defects ask questions**

and

 _Couldn't you just hide it? Like a hacker?_

 _I don't understand._

 _Couldn't you just change it... so no one could tell?_

 _Peridot, why are you shaking?_

 _I-I... why would - is that something done by Humans?_

 _Um... like in movies maybe?_

 _Good. Because on Homeworld -_

 **-altering a log is punishable via loss of facets.**

Only clearance 3 and higher have Harvesting as a common idea, have any idea what it actually means to be Harvested, to be Decommissioned, to be Re-purposed.

But everyone knows what it means to loose facets. Everyone has seen it and everyone fears it and that is why there is no word for Crime amongst Gems. There are however a hundred words and assorted phrases for Sin. **And Most Important it is a Sin to Defect from your Purpose.** It is a Sin to be Slothful. It is a Sin to lie - **especially to those above you**. And never forget - **it is a** _ **Sin**_ **to forget. Your.** **place**.

Only defectives are sinful, only the sinful are punished, there is no such thing as an unjustified punishment. Because all punishments are a kindness -the kindness of correction. it _is_ a sin to be **ungrateful**.

 _But you can't work all the time, and what does that mean "forget your place"?_

 _Every gem is born to a position and that is where they are meant to remain. And that's a good thing - it means no confusion, it means no crime, it means you always know what is expected of you, and it means you retain value. Those who fail to embody that forced through the process of facet removal._

 _What does that mean?_

 _Smoothing out the edges - like if someone forced a human through a different shaped cookie-cutter._

 _...Why are you turning green Steven?_

 _You're kidding, right? That's just a scary story - you're trying to scare me! Ha! G-good one._

 _No Steven -besides that's not the worst that can happen._

 **The loss of more than 10 facets is punishable via loss of cohesion.**

Some gems - some defects - never learn. they will not retain their place and so end up losing it. They are shaved until they are as smooth as a pearl, but not nearly so mindless - they scream until they loose the ability to hold a form and then they scream harder still a sound like the feeling of a needle inserted steadily through one's eye. A sound like the sight of fat rendered from a screaming body as the flames flicker higher.

 _I don't understand._

 _Have you ever seen a gem poof - and reform?_

 _Yeah._

 _A gem that lacks cohesion can't reform. They're trapped screaming, like the lapis you free, except it's forever._

 _...So...I don't..._

 _Imagine being trapped in your own corpse while it rotted away around you until the last star died._

 _Um...hey...don't cry... no one is broken and besides you use spit - the lapis told us._

 _Only 'cause you made her!_

 _Well, duh. So um... maybe we should talk about something else?_

 _No. What happens to a gem like that?_

A gem that cannot form a persona is worthless.  
 **There are** **no** **worthless gems**

Only those of clearance 5 or higher know for sure, but everyone knows that geode weapons scream - whether person shaped or not. And the heart of an SS class battle-cruiser weeps and it's attendants are only those who have displeased their superiors. And this is a kindness, a warning, a final chance.

 _...and -_

 _What are you talking about over here?_

 _Pearl!_

 _Um...I was attempting to learn of the home school. Thank you the Steven! I am grateful for you tutorship._

 _O~kay... Anything you want to tell me Steven? Alright - just remember: This isn't Home World. This is our Home and we can be who we want to be here._

 _...Pearl?_

 _Is really better to spit in a diamond's face and die?_

 _...I am going to have a serious talk with Peridot... But yes Steven - now enough of that. Didn't you want to learn about frogs yesterday?_

 _Yeah, but..._

 _Steven, forget about it. You can't fix what's broken. You can only make something better. And I believe you can Steven - now come here._

 _..._

 **all gems are meant to elevate the Empire**

 **all gems will elevate the Empire**

 **pearls are not gems**

And neither is Steven.


End file.
